What we could do with €540 billion in oil and gas

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Monday February 21, 2011 22:46

by AC

What could we do with the €540 billion in oil and gas which according to the Irish government lies in Ireland’s Atlantic Margin area?

It’s a mind-bogglingly large amount of money.

Actually, let’s assume for a moment only one-third of it is commercially viable. And let’s assume we decide to share a generous 50% of it with industry. That leaves €90 billion.

Let’s not think of the €50 billion PROVEN find in the Dalkey field in the Irish Sea. And the inland Lough Allen gas field, which may have a value of €94 billion. Let’s forget completely about them. Let’s forget, too, about the rest of our offshore territory – the Atlantic Margin area (that the government says has the €540 billion) occupies less than one-third of Ireland’s offshore.

Let’s just think about a nice round, extremely conservative, figure of €100 billion.

So. What could we buy with €100 billion? Well...

• The cost of building 25 new 50-teacher schools and running them for 50 years = €5 billion
• The cost of giving medical cards to everyone for 20 years, based on €500million cost in 2009 to cover 1.5million people = €20 billion
• Reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools to 1:20 for the next 20 years = €15 billion
• Get rid of the need for the planned public spending cuts over the next three years = €15 billion

Damn, That only makes €55 billion. We need to do some more wacky stuff:
• Build two Large Hadron Colliders (the underground particle accelerators on the Swiss/ French border) = €10 billion
• Start Ireland’s own space programme, by building 3 1.2 billion space shuttles - = €5 billion
• Pay the grocery bills of everybody in the country for a year = €10 billion
• Fund the UN’s entire World Food Programme for 2 years = €10 billion

Ahh, finally managed to spend it. But instead of all that sensible-ish stuff, why not go completely crazy?
• Give it to a bunch of fabulously wealthy gamblers who made some losses on the market
• Buy a few broken banks

Nope, still not mad enough. Let's go for the most lunatic proposal of all:
• Give it to a bunch of oil and gas corporations who will use it to buy your democracy out from under you, whose cops and courts will then beat and jail you if you dare to try make an effective protest.

Ah no, nobody is that crazy…

Without apologies to the Sunday Business Post.

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Comments (11 of 11)

Millions, billions, trillions

Sat Feb 26, 2011 12:38

A good way to get your head around them is to think about seconds.

A million seconds (1,000,000) is about eleven and a half days.

A billion seconds (1,000,000,000) is about 31 and a half years.

A trillion seconds (1,000,000,000,000) is about 31,700 years.

Take it back!!

standing up

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party

Thu Feb 24, 2011 14:01

The vote is over. Its neo-cons all the way. Pat Cox, Peter Southerland, Dermot Desmond, Parlon and Lowry et al are slipping into the cockpit.

The question becomes what way the opposition forms.
Micky Martin wil be out of the traps like the Bull O'D on steroids mixed with amphetamines; determined to try to outshout any attempt at driving an alternative analysis from the consensus the media have maintained throughout the election campaign.Deckchairs and decor.

It will be more difficult if Sinn fein and ULA make a decent showing. Martin has been given leeway all round by the mainstream gombeen press trying to resuscitate its collapsed advertising revenue. They are determined to blow up their busted PD tiger and see can they siphon another tranche out of the turnip. Expect more of the same. The FF-Punch n FG-Judy show saves them the trouble of thinking. Drama uber erosion of readership by rationality. Labour seems to be lost. Fawning like a fucking puppy over Endya's possible pat on the head.

Vote tomorrow. Then start preparing for the real scrap. Varadkar, Shatter, Noonan&Co are as arrogantly sure of their right to rule as Fianna Flatula.

The NEXT election might be listenable.

Banks own most of the shell shares

by Eamonn O'Coillea'in - Republic of Ireland

Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:39

A Bank in England owns 54.4 million shares in shell, A bank in Germany owns 27 million shares and a bank in N.Y. owns 17 million shares of shell A shares, so the Banks own shell oil an gas, no wonder the last Gov. gave it all a way , not to its Irish people but to the banks, with nothing going to the people of the Country who have to bail out Irish Banks all the while Banks from other Countries enjoy tax free oil an gas from FF. It's beyond belief. There is great amounts of gas an oil out in the Atlantic ocean of the Irish coast, but now we learn that foreign banks are going to make all the profits in Trillions, time to really stand up.....at the voting box.....

Billion.

by Linguist.

Wed Feb 23, 2011 16:13

"There's two definitions of a 'Billion'. The US Definition is a thousand million, and the other one is a million million however, it's the US version that's standardised or accepted."

In order to avoid confusion between two english speaking nations the British defined a billion as " one thousand million" in 1974.

So an English billion is the same as an American billion since then.

After all, the English can define what they like in their own English language.
.

Trillions

by Damien M

Wed Feb 23, 2011 15:37

And henceforth for a Trillion-a thousand Billion.

Millions..

Wed Feb 23, 2011 15:35

There's two definitions of a 'Billion'. The US Definition is a thousand million, and the other one is a million million however, it's the US version that's standardised or accepted.

I think you're right, wf

Wed Feb 23, 2011 13:52

I was saying a trillion is a thousand billion, as far as I know(my abacus is a bit rusty from lack of use at such high numerical altitudes). A tenner boggles me these days.

Opus

by W. Finnerty

Tue Feb 22, 2011 11:38

I hope that you (or somebody else) will correct me on this thread if I'm wrong, but I think 5.4 trillion Euros equals 5,400 billion Euros?

And, as can be seen at the address provided earlier (please see at Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:14) the iStockAnalist report very clearly states 5.4 trillion.

I think, wf

Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:38

it adds up to 1,000 billion. I'm just counting the change from last weeks dole to be sure.Give me a week. I've nearly enough money left to start a war.

Consider also ...

Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:14

What we could do €5.4 TRILLION in oil ands gas, which is what the iStockAnalist report at http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/art...97336 suggests the Republic of Ireland's oil and gas resources are worth.

As far as I know, and allowing for the fact I'm not used to dealing with such large numbers, 5.4 trillion is (I think?) 10 times more than 540 billion.

Related link: http://www.humanrightsireland.com/DailEireannGroup1/20F...teral

Forgot the graphic

Mon Feb 21, 2011 22:50

Ask your candidates about the oil and gas!